Blog Entries tagged 'recovery community'

BABY BOOMERS AND ADDICTION

sherry@sgabatherapy.com — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 00:00:00 +0100

MIDDLE AGED BABY BOOMERS AND ADDICTION

A woman enters my office disheveled, thin, mid forties, with hollow eyes. It is as if the sparkle in her eyes ceased to exist a very long time ago. She tells me she has been drinking and is using methamphetamines. I am not surprised to hear this because lately my practice has been filled with middle aged baby boomers seeking help for their serious addictions. Whether it is alcohol, cocaine, crack, methamphetamines, pa [...]

Addiction and Codependency vs. Maturity

kenandjody@comcast.net — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 00:00:00 +0100

When the co-dependency and/or addiction begins at an early age, one huge price paid by the individual (and ultimately by the culture) is the slowing down or halting of his or her maturity. Here is how this works.

Addictive behaviors momentarily anesthetize us when we are faced with a painful situation or choice. The problem is, in the words of C.S Lewis, "...pain is God's megaphone." When we block out pain we block out God's favorite attention [...]

Why Ask For Help With Addiction?

kenandjody@comcast.net — Mon, 11 Aug 2008 00:00:00 +0100

I am aware that these words will only reach a select few. I am writing to anybody who has reached their true "bottom" and given up on the whole life process. If you are like me, you were brought to this point by the impact of the two diseases of addiction and codependency. If you have just started reaching out for help through one of the 12-step programs, then continue reading. If you are just miserably despondent right now due to thes [...]

ALCOHOL TREATMENT CENTERS FOR WOMEN

jason@harmonyplace.net — Fri, 08 Aug 2008 00:00:00 +0100

Alcohol treatment centers for women, and female addiction in general, were until very recently, not even a subject which was discussed in “polite company.” Fortunately, thanks to the courageous honesty of women like Betty Ford, Carrie Fisher and of course, “celebutantes” like Lindsay Lohan and Britney Spears, not only are women finally able to “come clean” about their struggles with drugs and alcohol, but there are finally gender specific resources to h [...]

ALCOHOL REHABILITATION #3

jason@harmonyplace.net — Fri, 08 Aug 2008 00:00:00 +0100

According to communication professionals and commentators in media psychology, there appears to be a vast shift in the manner in which Americans receive information. Gone are the days of three major network news programs. News radio has become an information delivery source reserved primarily for the politically-bent or polarized minds. The future of the information highway, warn savvy pundits of media psych, lies in the ill-informed hands of entertainment-based programs, [...]

Why "Big Boys" Should Admit Being WRONG.

kenandjody@comcast.net — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 00:00:00 +0100

One night while attending an open AA meeting , God spoke to me through an AA member with only a few months of sobriety. Mike, like me, had developed the habit of practicing his 10th step at night just before going to sleep.

(For reference, here is the 10th step; We continued to take personal inventory, and when we were wrong, promptly admitted it).

He would lay there and go through his day thinking through each incidence where he had been [...]

REHAB CENTER

jason@harmonyplace.net — Mon, 04 Aug 2008 00:00:00 +0100

The idea of entering a rehab center to seek recovery from drug abuse or alcoholism can be an overwhelming concept. For the addict or alcoholic struggling with the problem, the facilitation of even investigating recovery options is often completely compromised by their own substance abuse. For a friend or family member, the choices available now on the internet are daunting and confusing. How does one know what will prove the right “fit?&rd [...]

DRUG REHAB CALIFORNIA

jason@harmonyplace.net — Mon, 04 Aug 2008 00:00:00 +0100

When legendary ‘70’s group “The Eagles” released their Grammy-winning record “Hotel California” in 1978, band member Don Henley called it "our interpretation of the high life in Los Angeles." Now 30 years later, Henley & Co.’s sardonic tribute to the hedonistic Southern California lifestyle has assumed an entirely different, yet ironically related connotation. “Drug Rehab [...]

Why Do "Big Boys" Have Trouble Feeling Feelings?

kenandjody@comcast.net — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 00:00:00 +0100

Men are confused. We are taught early in the game a basic lie. We are taught as little boys that emotions (yes, I'm goanna talk about the "F" word here guys, feelings), are bad and WRONG. We therefore confuse emotions with faults (short-comings if you are a 12-stepper, sins if you are many Christians).

As a man in al-Anon, a 12-step program for people who are being adversely effected by somebody else's drinking, I have listened to men speak during meetings [...]

Love the Addict, Hate the Disease.

kenandjody@comcast.net — Sat, 12 Jul 2008 00:00:00 +0100

Love the Addict, Hate the Disease.

A wise counselor once told my wife and I "...it's hard to hug a porcupine!" Addicts and alcoholics are like porcupines. Their decades of consuming known depressants render them irritable and negative. Their addiction has been used to avoid facing and solving life's problems, so they have hampered their own maturation process, because maturity can only happen when a per [...]

Cleaning House. Taking Steps 4-9.

kenandjody@comcast.net — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 00:00:00 +0100

This post is strictly for experienced 12-step people. Most others will not understand it.

After taking the first three steps, beginning steps 4-9, the "clean house" steps, is not a matter of choice if you are at all committed to recovery. It is just not possible to stretch to a higher level of consciousness if you are burdened beneath a half of a lifetime of shortcomings.

The fourth step inventory presents a once-in-a-lifetime oppor [...]

Alcoholism and Cancer. Why is One More Respectable Than the Other?

kenandjody@comcast.net — Sun, 06 Jul 2008 00:00:00 +0100

Here are some thoughts I had relative to a recent announcement that our church was putting together programs to help families with cancer in the family. Yes, cancer is a devastating set of ailments, but in total they pale by comparison with another cluster of diseases centered on alcoholism. Before I go any further, I must point out that the two diseases are directly related in that alcoholism leads to cancer.

There are eight cancers directly caus [...]

The Serenity Prayer

kenandjody@comcast.net — Sun, 29 Jun 2008 00:00:00 +0100

The Serenity Prayer

We 12-step people say the Serenity Prayer's first few lines thousands of times, before most meetings, and in our hearts so often when faced with one of those inevitable difficult situations life hands us.

But how many times have we heard the entire work, as written by Reinhold Neibuhr in 1926?

When you hear the prayer in its entirety you see even greater depth, and you see where [...]

Sick And Tired (A Song for AA Members)

kenandjody@comcast.net — Mon, 19 May 2008 00:00:00 +0100

Sick and Tired

A Song For AA Members

[...]

Why Grandma Doesn't Get A DUI

kenandjody@comcast.net — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 23:00:00 +0100

We have all heard that liars figure and figures lie, but when we started delving deeply into the data about women and alcoholism we found many figures that just didn't...well...figure!

For example, when it comes to DUI's (or DWI's) the number of arrests never matches any data on the incidence of alcoholism among women as compared to men. The trends are certainly there; in 1977 only 8% of DUI's were for women, and by 2007 that percentage had [...]

"Doctor Shopping" by Alcoholics.

kenandjody@comcast.net — Sat, 22 Mar 2008 07:26:47 +0100

Many of the men I have sponsored in Al-Anon have funny "war stories" about bungling attempts made by the medical profession while trying to deal with the lady alcoholics in our lives. The trick, from the gentleman physician's point of view, is how to treat the related health problems, keep her alive and coming back as a customer, and never actually identifythe problem as alcoholism.

My wife, (we'll call her Katy here) wrote her master's thesis [...]

Soberlivingla.net-Mc laughlin House & Redwood House

memories727@yahoo.com — Fri, 14 Mar 2008 07:32:42 +0100

Sober Living L.A.

Mc Laughlin House & Redwood House

Transitional Structured Sober Living for men

I would like to take this opportunity to introduce the Mc Laughlin and Redwood House. We are a structured soberliving for men. We provide our residents with a safe, drug and alcohol free environment where men can experience a positive transition between early recovery and li [...]

What it is like to live after recovery.

kenandjody@comcast.net — Tue, 11 Mar 2008 08:52:43 +0100

I will illustrate the cumulative effect of the Al-Anon way of living by putting into words the way I live my life on a typical day.

A good night of sleep that repairs the cells in your body and integrates the memories in your brain from yesterday's experience leads to a high energy morning. But first you enjoy slowly awakening withthat delicious fuzzy warm feeling you remember when awakening as a child. You share some time with your beautiful, caring, sensi [...]

The Battle of the Sexes Al Anon Style

kenandjody@comcast.net — Fri, 29 Feb 2008 07:24:20 +0100

The Battle of the Sexes, Al Anon Style

Love is what happens to a man and a woman who don't know each other.

W. Somerset Maugham

The constant state of fear, if it is associatedwith the women in his life from the beginning, sometimes leads to men who turn anger toward all women. In exactly the same way that the woman in Al-Anon sometimes enjoys engaging in "man-bashing" sessions, the male Al-Ano [...]

Is it possible for men to have real friendships with other men today?

kenandjody@comcast.net — Mon, 25 Feb 2008 19:53:02 +0100

Real friendships...possible in America today? "After David had finished talking with Saul, he met Jonathan, the king's son. There was an immediate bond of love between them, and they became the best of friends. And Jonathan made a special vow to be David's friend, and he sealed the pact by giving him his robe, tunic, sword, bow, and belt."

1 Samuel 18:1, 3-4

Question; is it possible for men to have real friendships with other men in tod [...]